Making Space, a talent acquisition and learning platform focused on closing the disability employment gap, announced it has received a $500,000 grant from the GitLab Foundation to expand its Ascend Fellowship and accelerate development of responsible AI tools aimed at improving employment access and long-term economic mobility for disabled professionals.
The funding will support a hybrid initiative that combines fellowship programming, employer systems transformation, and national deployment of AI tools designed to assist with skill translation, benefits continuity, and ABLE account navigation. The initiative is intended to address systemic barriers that contribute to higher unemployment and poverty rates among disabled individuals, including inaccessible workplaces, hiring discrimination, and concerns about losing essential benefits.
The grant builds on a prior partnership between Making Space and the GitLab Foundation through the Ascend Fellowship program, which demonstrated measurable economic outcomes. The first cohort of 100 participants generated $111 million in projected lifetime earnings, representing a 123:1 return on investment, while also training approximately 5,000 hiring managers within partner organizations.
With the new funding, Making Space plans to scale the fellowship program while piloting and validating next-generation AI tools with participants before broader deployment. Once fully launched, these tools and associated curriculum are expected to reach disabled adults across the United States, supporting job placement, wage growth, and pathways that enable individuals to work without jeopardizing critical benefits.
The initiative will also expand employer-facing efforts, integrating disability inclusion training into corporate systems, improving accessible hiring practices, and increasing retention and advancement opportunities for disabled professionals.
Making Space connects a network of more than 50,000 disabled individuals with job-aligned skill development, community support, and career pathways. Its Ascend program has supported more than 200 participants and generated over $220 million in projected lifetime economic impact. The company has also worked with major employers including Red Bull, Microsoft, and Coca-Cola to build more accessible workplaces.
The GitLab Foundation, founded in 2022, focuses on improving lifetime earnings through access to opportunity, supporting solutions that aim to generate measurable economic mobility outcomes across the United States and internationally.
KEY QUOTES:
“Most platforms optimize for placement. Making Space optimizes for staying power, which changes everything for Disabled workers navigating a system too often designed to hold them back. This is about building an employer partnership model that opens up doors, and makes sure they stay open.”
Matt Zieger, Chief Programs and Partnerships Officer, GitLab Foundation
“One key takeaway from Ascend was recognizing that my lived experience as a disabled person is not a limitation in my career, it’s a form of expertise. Over the past year, Making Space brought together disabled, chronically ill, and neurodivergent professionals through webinars, hands-on assignments exploring accessible and flexible work, impactful 1:1 support and guidance that truly met me where I am. They specialize in building paths that actually fit Disabled peoples lives. What I will carry forward most is the emphasis on peer connection over hierarchy. Some of the most meaningful moments came from learning alongside other disabled professionals and building career paths that actually fit our lives.”
Cat Contillo, Ascend Fellow, Making Space
“We’re thrilled to have the support of the GitLab Foundation. Disabled professionals represent one of the most talented yet overlooked talent pools in the workforce. They are qualified, capable, and ready for the next generation of work, what needs to change is the system around them. Together, we’re helping employers rethink how they hire, breaking down systemic barriers and unlocking opportunity at scale.”
Keely Cat-Wells, CEO & Founder, Making Space
